Adrian Raeside's inter- nationally-syndicated The Other Coast will replace the long-running The Far Side, by Gary Larson, which has finally been discontinued by Creators Syndicate, following Larson's retirement in 1995.
Raeside (52) grew up in Dunedin, attending Maori Hill School, before leaving with his family when his late father, DSIR scientist James Raeside, was transferred to Christchurch in 1970.
He now lives and works in Whistler, British Columbia, two hours north of Vancouver.
Raeside has been the Victoria Times Colonist editorial cartoonist for 30 years and his cartoons appear in more than 200 newspapers and magazines worldwide, from the Los Angeles Times to Newsweek.
His comic strip, The Other Coast, is published in more than 350 newspapers worldwide.
His cartoons lampoon politics, hypocrisy and social convention.
Raeside says his passion for newspapers started in Dunedin.
"I was given a tour of the ODT when I was just knee-high, which started my life-long interest in the newspaper business," he said.
"Of all the newspapers that have picked up my cartoons over the last 30 years, the Otago Daily Times is the one I am most thrilled about.
"I guess, at heart, I'm still a Dunedin boy.
"I love newspapers.
"There's something about opening up the paper in the morning.
"It's like Christmas. You never know what's going to be in it.
"Now that The Other Coast is being run in the Otago Daily Times, I'll start sneaking occasional Otago references into the strip.
"Keep an eye out for them . . ."
The Other Coast starts in the ODT today on page 23.
